The 2003 San Simeon Earthquake was a magnitude 6.5Mw earthquake on the Central Coast of California, about 7 miles (11 km) northeast of San Simeon. It occurred at 11:15 PST (19:15 UTC) on December 22, 2003. The earthquake probably occurred on the Oceanic fault zone in the Santa Lucia Mountains. It was caused by reverse faulting and propagated southeast from the hypocenter for 12 miles (19 km).[1] The most violent ground movement occurred within 50 miles of the epicenter, though the earthquake was felt as far away as Los Angeles. It was the most destructive earthquake to hit the U.S. since the 1994 Northridge earthquake.